


A Quarter Loaf of Bread

by Verinillium



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fantasy AU, M/M, Violence, klance, not super bloody, tags will update accordingly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 12:12:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15663000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verinillium/pseuds/Verinillium
Summary: Two men, running from different pasts meet unintentionally. The fabled cat kind meeting a half elf half human with the ability to control magic. And yeah, the rest of a summary.





	A Quarter Loaf of Bread

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this, I just wanted to say that I will be updating tags and such, and possibly the rating for later chapters... ;) And please enjoy.

Chapter uno

Indigo eyes flashed a dangerous gold as he swung his purple blade, trying to fend off the demon that was attacking him. The black cape flew around him as he defended himself, gloved hands gripping onto his sword for dear life. Another slash tore against him, this time debilitating his left shoulder. He clung weakly to the limp limb, tears streaking down his dirt and blood stained face. His feline ears were pressed hard against his head as he looked up at the monster, hissing warningly as it approached. Another slash, this time the pain so intense it brought darkness to his eyes and his body to the ground. The demon sauntered closer, his size almost thrice that of the small nekojin.

 

The large gnarled hand reached down, plucking the limp body up by the neck and holding it in the air. Then an arrow pierced through his wrist. He looked to the side and saw a man in a white cloak, a silver bow in his hands…. As well as three more arrows flying toward his face. He dropped dead the instant an eye was pierced, brain shutting off. The small nekojin fell to the ground, shallowly breathing, tail and ears twitching just barely.

  
  


The white cloaked figure ran to the barely breathing nekojin, carefully laying his body out, so he could see all the damage. Piercing blue eyes started to glow as he moved his hands over his shoulder and chest, the tan skin following suit of his eyes. A small whimper left the cat boy’s lips, body convulsing slightly. Then, an expression of relief washed over him, body relaxing into the wet soil he lied on.

That process happened a few more times, all over the man’s body, deep gashes healing in seconds. The white clad man half collapsed in exhaustion, looking at the pale skin of the man. It was marked with purple-ish black swirls, some curling over his arms, and two on his cheeks. He had marks under his eyes, almost like tear drops, only flipped upside down. And ear fluttered on the dark head and the tan man’s hand twitched with want… He wanted to pet the soft ears so bad. He slowly reached down, fingers pressing together gently with the ear in between. Oh Gods, it was so soft… Next thing he knew he was pinned to the ground, knife at his bobbing Adam’s apple. He looked up at the fierce indigo eyes, burning in the silver light of the moon.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing,” he growled, eyes scanning over the face, trying to figure out who the hell this was.

  
  


“I-I’m helping you!” he said, hands up. His hood had fallen back, exposing the tan, angular face, blue eyes wide and bright. The golden brown freckles on his skin looked completely gold when his body shifted certain ways.His quiver and bow were digging into his back uncomfortably, but that was the last of his issues at the moment, considering he had a raging cat boy on top of him and a knife at his throat.

“You touched my ears,” he growled. That was something of intimacy in the nekojin kingdom, teasing only used by children that didn’t know better. The nekojin, like most of his kind, was incredibly protective of them.

  
  


“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know it would provoke you like this!” he said, eyes wide as he looked up at the deadly, yet beautiful, man. He was literally breathtaking, both from fear and beauty. The silver ring piercings in his ears caught the light beautifully and it made him want to touch them even more.

  
  


“Who are you and how did you find me? Were you sent by the king? Are you trying to kill me?” he asked, voice spat out like venom.

  
  


“My name is Lance, and I was passing through here to the next village. And if I wanted to kill you why would I waste my time on both saving you and then healing you?” he asked, heart practically beating out of his chest.

 

The dark haired man’s eyes narrowed, slowly letting go of the white cloak, hand still tense around his knife. Then he passed out, slumping onto the broad chest of the tan man, the armor probably not very comfortable against his face, but oh well.

Lance let out a breath of relief and lied there for a moment, just trying to regain his bearings. He looked down at the small man with a chuckle and lifted him up carefully, making sure the knife made its way back into the holster. He lifted the small body up into his arms and against his chest, starting for his campsite. In truth, he had heard the pounding of the giant demon’s feet from the small cave he had stayed in that night. He was going to the next village over though.

He walked into the small, uninhabited cave he had managed to find a little earlier that evening. He set Keith down onto his bedding, not caring about all the blood and mud getting all over his things… well, he cared a little….

Lance sighed and looked at him, the fire casting a different kind of light onto the pale face. He looked malnourished and a little gaunt, but other than that he was gorgeous; long thick eyelashes fluttered against his mud stained cheeks, plush lips parted gently, the skin slightly cracked. Lance tilted his head some as his eyes scanned lower, looking at the clothing. He wore a loose fitting vest, the way he was laying made it expose a little more than half his chest, the dark markings wrapping all around his body.

Gods why did he have to get stuck with someone so gorgeous?  But, he was fortunate because the man was a sight for sore eyes… He’d been traveling for so long, having started off in an all man group, most men were older and… not attractive, to say the least. Everyone but him was killed off about a half a year after they left on their travels, a dragon having torn most of them in half and only falling once a silver arrow from Lance’s bow pierced his eye. It was a group of travelling bachelors, fools looking for love. It was fun and carefree, a bard in the group singing with them around a fire every night. Lance’s brother Luis had been in the band of merry men, and he was the first one that had been killed, right before Lance’s eyes. He didn’t sleep for weeks, just traveling, running from his past. He was too much of a coward to go back to his family, to tell anyone what had happened… He was running from the sorrow of loved ones.

The blue eyes darted to the small man once more, looking at the soft flickering shadows cast over his face, making him look almost not lethal. Lance knew that the injuries he took would take quite a lot of time to heal, and honestly he impressed that the man was conscious after all of that, and enough so to pin Lance to the ground and draw a knife. Maybe it was a species thing? When he had first seen the ears he was slightly taken aback. Sure, longer, pointed ears and rounded small ears were well known to him, thanks to both his elf and human heritage. But the lack of smooth fleshy ears? Furry, cat ears on a humanoid? That slightly perplexed him. He had heard tales of the cat-kind, otherwise known as nekojins, but he had never seen them.

His grandfather had always joked about not falling in love with one, because they were quick witted and had sharp tongued, sure to leave you the second your wallet is emptied. Another sigh left Lance’s lips as he looked away, head tilting to look at the moon, wondering if his brother could see that he was with a cat-kind, laughing at him. Lance smiled and looked back at the fire before getting into his smaller bed he had made from leaves and foliage from the forest. He was out like a light, breathing softly through the night.

>o<

Lance woke up that morning to a pair of large indigo eyes, the dark head of hair tilted as the man inspected Lance. Lance yelped and sat up, their heads slamming together.

“Fuck!” he hissed, holding his forehead, the nekojin doing the same thing. He rubbed at the red spot forming, looking at the man. “Can I help you?” he asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

“Who are you?” he asked with a scowl on his face as he rubbed his forehead. He had pulled his knife out already, as if the accidental forehead smash (which was his fault) was some sort of carefully planned attack. His ears were back, but Lance couldn’t tell if it was in fear or anger.

“I told you last night, the name’s Lanc--”

“I know what your name is, what I want to know is why you saved me and who you’re working for,” he spat out.

“Well why didn’t you ask me that instead?” he quipped back, feeling rather elated and victorious from the banter, even if he might be killed if he got too cocky.

A small growl left the snarled lips. “Why did you save me? Are you bringing me to someone?”

“Why do you think I want to bring you to someone?” he asked, brows furrowing. “Are you running from someone or something? You seem to have a pretty guilty conscience there, buddy,” he said, grabbing his pack as if the other wasn’t holding a knife to him. The cat-kind had said something about a king last night, but Lance didn’t fully recall it… He grabbed some jerky he had dried himself and held some out. “How about you sit down and tell me what’s on your plate,” he said, smiling at the other. Then he heard a loud growl and thought another monster had found him. Turned out, it was just the cat-kind’s stomach.

“I-Is it poisoned?” he asked, eyes narrowing as he leaned forward, sniffing at it, cheeks a little hot from the embarrassing noise.

“Oh my Gods, just eat it,” he groaned. “You’re withering away and you sound pretty hangry. Maybe if you put something in that stomach of yours you’ll be able to have an actual conversation with me instead of just pulling a knife out.” Lance wasn’t a morning person to say the least.

The man took the piece of dried meat hesitantly, sniffing at it once more (so what if Lance thought it was cute!?). A small bite was taken out of the meat before a larger one, eyes lighting up at how good it tasted. He had been living off bread crusts he found in trashes and fishing in the lakes he came across. He devoured it in seconds, Lance’s eyebrows going up. When the indigo eyes darted back to the other, showing need for more, Lance smirked.

“So you’re obviously starving… we’re gonna make a deal,” he hummed, pulling out some bread, about a quarter of a loaf. “You get all of this if you answer two questions,” he said holding two long fingers up, the nekojin eyeing him nervously, looking askance. “They’re one word answers, it won’t be too hard, hun,” he reassured.

“First off, don’t fucking call me that, and second, I’m not starving,” he said, lying through his teeth.

“Fine, fine, I guess you don’t want this bread then,” he said, tearing a piece for himself, popping it into his mouth. The hungry indigo eyes followed the movements, pupils tracing the torn edge.

“Fine… I’ll answer two questions,” he said begrudgingly, looking away.

“Question number one,” he started, looking at the other. “What’s your name?”

He seemed slightly taken aback by the question, apparently not having expected something so simple. “Um… Keith,” he said, looking up at the other. Lance smiled and held a hand out.

“Nice to meet you Keith,” he said, waiting for Keith’s hand. Keith, like with most of his previous actions, took it hesitantly, grip firm. He still held his knife in the other hand, only it was lower at his side.

“Question two, why are you traveling?” he asked.

“I thought you said these were one word questions?” Keith scowled

“It can be if you use your head,” he hummed with a smirk, making Keith’s scowl only deepen.

Keith seemed to think for a few seconds before answering. “Running.” And that was it. Lance moved his hand in Keith’s direction, only snatching it back before the other could grab it.

“Eat this slowly; I don’t want you wasting it by barfing it up. You’re stomach is probably the size of a pea,” he said before slowly handing it to him. Keith eyed the bread and took a breath, slowly taking a small piece into his mouth, chewing slowly and savoring the bread. “I hope you don’t mind stolen food, because I’m low on money and that bakery was just  _ asking  _ for someone to walk up and steal it,” he chuckled, thinking back to the inattentive baker’s wife, flirting with some man.

Keith almost laughed. “Don’t worry, I have no money so most everything I own is stolen as well,” he said, taking another paced bite.

Lance nodded solemnly and then smirked. “So, you said you were running… I’m running as well… I say we team up,” he hummed. “But, if we do, you need to get better clothes.” Keith deadpanned as he looked at the other, unamused.

“Sorry, this was the best I could find in the garbage,” he drawled.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way; I meant it as a tactical strategy. If you look nice then you’re less likely to have stolen something. My cloak, that you got blood all over (you’re so fucking lucky I enchanted it) is pretty nice so it saves my ass quite often,” he hummed, pulling the white cloak into his lap. He moved his hand over it, his skin glowing blue like it had the night before, the mud and blood vanishing in seconds.

“Impressive,” Keith hummed, eyeing the white. “So… you want to form a partnership, huh?” he asked, taking another bite of the bread. He was always the lone wolf, wandering the lands alone and fending for him. It was getting so hard now thanks to the new ruler and the new surge of monsters. Last night almost killed him.

“That’s what I said, is it not?” he hummed playfully, wanting to get another rise out of the other. All he earned was an eye roll.

“If we do end up staying together, where do you plan on going?” he asked.

“I’m a wandering soul, my dear gentleman. I go where my heart takes me, where the wind whispers to my feet.”

“Why is the wind whispering to your feet and not your ears?”

“Because it’s poetry!” Lance said indignantly. He huffed and pursed his lips, looking away. “I’m just going from place to place; I have no plans other than to stay alive.”

Keith nodded, face growing slightly solemn. “Well… I guess you have a new traveling companion then,” he hummed, fighting the curl of his lips when he saw how bright Lance’s face got with the grin.

“Great! We can go to the seaport village about half a  fortnight from here and get you some new clothes. That’s the closest place I can think of that would have clothes at a high enough caliber,” he hummed, standing up. “I think staying here one more day would be good for you, let you rest some. I’ll go into the next village over and get more food, think you can stay here?” he hummed. Gods he had wanted a partner for so long. He’d been alone for almost a year, no one to talk to other than the people he was swindling.

Keith nodded once and fought the warm feeling creeping up on his cheeks. “Um, sure,” he said, looking at the wall of the cave. “Try not to die or get caught… Well, actually, I don’t care, more food for me,” he said, obviously teasing despite his tone. He wasn’t the best at sarcasm or joking.

“Well, I’ll see you soon,  try not to die or get caught either, you’re starting to grow on me,” Lance said with a wink before pulling his white cloak on, the hood up and bow and quiver drawn over his back. He left the cave almost as if he were in a hurry, Keith’s head cocking as he watched him leave. Lance was such an odd man. He was nice though and gave Keith food. This was the first time his stomach was uncomfortable full in months, and it had just been from a piece of dried meat and a quarter loaf of bread.


End file.
